


𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨 🁡 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑜𝑛

by Adrenalineshots, sonshineandshowers, TheFibreWitch



Series: Domino 🁡 [8]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Assault, Case Fic, Digital Art, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gothic fiction, Hallucinations, Harassment, Health Emergency, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mental Health Issues, Metafiction, Murder Mystery, Nightmares, Surrealism, Trauma, Unreliable Narrator, Video, a lot of really strange stuff that happens in altered states of consciousness, anxiousness, canon minor character death, reader-driven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26502904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adrenalineshots/pseuds/Adrenalineshots, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonshineandshowers/pseuds/sonshineandshowers, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFibreWitch/pseuds/TheFibreWitch
Summary: Selecting 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑜𝑛 from the bookshelf, Malcolm travels through his own mind.Read this story at:https://www.thedominostory.com/#the-green-ribbonThis book is one part of the Domino series. If you have not yet read thePrefaceorIntroduction, please head there first.
Series: Domino 🁡 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926451
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Domino 🁡, Prodigal Son Big Bang 2020 - Saturday Posts





	𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨 🁡 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑜𝑛

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jameena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jameena/gifts), [MissScorp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissScorp/gifts), [ProcrastinatingSab](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProcrastinatingSab/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Green Ribbon](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/685297) by Alvin Schwartz. 



> This book is one part of the Domino series. If you have not yet read the [Preface](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26497927/chapters/64577434#workskin) or [Introduction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26497927/chapters/64588537#workskin), please head there first.
> 
> Betaed by the wonderful [Jameena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jameena/), [MissScorp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissScorp/), and [ProcrastinatingSab](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProcrastinatingSab/).
> 
> Credit to the creators and their works that inspired and were referenced in this work:  
>  **— Inspiration:**[The Green Ribbon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_a_Dark,_Dark_Room_and_Other_Scary_Stories#%22The_Green_Ribbon%22) \- Alvin Schwartz  
>  **— Cover Song:**[Don’t Lose Your Head](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAthQG1aKho) \- SIX Cast

[](https://www.thedominostory.com/images/full/the-green-ribbon.jpg) |   
---|---  
  
Ainsley wears her favorite necklace like a lifeline. Regardless of what suit she has on, it’s always there, tucked next to her neck where things of sentimental value go and don’t get asked about. It doesn’t even get seen most days.

Malcolm knows it’s there, though. He’s one of the few that knows it’s actual purpose, as well. Why it never leaves her neck. Why she’s worn it every day since she got it.

Their mother doesn’t even know.

Their mother doesn’t know about a lot of things.

Mr. Boots roamed the basement a couple years without her knowledge. Talked Ainsley into all sorts of tea parties. Tried to take her necklace.

But it wasn’t for sharing.

The Surgeon loomed in the house as well, the scarier puppetmaster to Mr. Boots’ puppeteer. He didn’t work with Ainsley much — she wasn’t dextrous enough to be a suitable helper. Malcolm was first pick for everything.

Malcolm didn’t get a necklace, though. Many of his days are spent worrying he’ll accidentally harm someone in his line of work. He isn’t necklace material.

Ainsley wears hers like a talisman while she swims with the sharks at the TV station. She’s a shark herself, territorial as all else, willing to do anything to achieve her next position. Even sell out her brother with a front page news story — _Son of the Surgeon_. It’s not her byline, but she lets it slip through, saying it’s going to happen anyway — it might as well be via someone she knows.

That doesn’t make it any less hurtful.

She gets her necklace, and he gets what — constantly looking over his shoulder? Daddy’s little helper turned forever into a symbol of The Surgeon’s misdeeds? He’s gotten the shit end of the deal. She’s protected, he’s… damaged.

Nicholas Endicott crashes into their life like a hyena determined to bark and get everything to go his way. He’s worse than Mr. Boots, has more power than The Surgeon locked in a cage. Takes to their mother, luring her with honey when the stinger’s merely inches away.

“He’s dangerous, mother,” Malcolms says over dinner, looking to Ainsley for support.

“Keeps looking at me weird,” Ainsley confirms.

“You’re both being overprotective,” Jessica complains.

Mr. Boots lurked in the basement. The Surgeon _lived_ in the house. She doesn’t exactly have the best radar for picking safe men. Gil was the exception, not commonplace.

“Gil’s worried,” Malcolm says, and that gets her pasted smile to falter. When she looks at him, he adds, “Endicott’s not on the up and up. You need to be careful.”

“Yes, dear,” his mother says, and that’s effectively a dismissal. She’ll consider it long after they’ve left when she’s alone without any interruptions.

Week after week, she doesn’t. Then one day, everything gets so bad that Gil ends up in the hospital, and Malcolm and Ainsley end up in their mother’s living room with Endicott. Ainsley looks like the shark’s been gutted, rare tears gracing her face. Endicott’s snarl says he’s proud of himself, that he has both Whitly children right where he wants them.

Endicott swears he didn’t touch a hair on Ainsley’s head. But something’s wrong — something’s amiss. Where’s her necklace? Maybe it’s beneath her sweater? He thinks he saw it earlier that morning.

“Ains?” he asks, trying to assess her wellbeing.

She gives a small tip of her head but doesn’t say anything.

Bantering with Endicott leads Malcolm to drawing his gun from under his mother’s sofa, but he knows it’s useless. He can’t shoot someone. Can’t kill, can barely even maim on a good day. What was he thinking going in without backup? Who was even left to call?

In a reenactment of ‘off with his head,’ Ainsley slices into Endicott, and his blood sprays all over the living room. Malcolm’s mouth drops in shock, unable to fathom how his sister was capable of such violence when he’d been the one who was trained, he is supposed to be the one to defend them.

She’s a shark. Excited by the taste of blood, she sends nearly ten more stabs into Endicott’s body. Enough for him to bleed out all over the rug before there’s any hope of paramedics ever arriving.

She killed a man.

With all of their father’s influences, she was the one to succumb, she was the one to crumble and falter. Endicott’s head is damn near torn off.

Where is her necklace?

“What happened?” Ainsley asks, her eyes wide in shock.

“Ains, it’s gonna be okay,” he says, but he knows full well it isn’t. Murder comes with prison comes with visits comes with never seeing his sister the same again.

“What happened?” she repeats, and he has no idea what to tell her. “He took it,” she says, a shiver running through her body and tears rolling down her cheeks. “Ripped it right off. I needed it. What happened?” she cries, and he buries her blood-spattered body into his chest.

“You’re okay. You’re safe,” he murmurs, pulling her out into the foyer.

She’s wobbly on her feet, a million miles away trying to catch up with the catastrophic evening. Before she falls, he slides them both to the floor, sitting facing the front door.

“It’s just you and me, Ains. We’re safe,” he tells her. “You protected me. Protected us.”

Her head drops to his shoulder, and he wraps a sturdy arm around her back, keeping her as close as possible. With his other hand, he fishes his cellphone out of his pocket and calls JT.

“We don’t have anything yet,” JT says without a greeting.

“I need you and Dani to come to my mother’s,” Malcolm replies. “Endicott went after my sister.”

“Is she okay?” JT asks. “Are you okay?”

“He’s dead.” Malcolm turns his head away from Ainsley. “She needs to see a doctor.”

“We’re coming,” JT says, urgency in his voice. “Stay put.”

“Malcolm, I need my necklace,” Ainsley whines, tugging at his sweater.

It’s too late — they can’t put Endicott’s head back on.

— ◌◯◌ —

“Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it!” Edrisa screeches, running from the bathroom, through the bedroom, then out to the connected kitchen and living room.

“ _What?_ ” JT grumbles crankily, turning to where she’s shouting from.

“Don’t touch it!” she yells another time before she reaches them.

“Edrisa, don’t touch what?” Dani asks, shooting JT a glare to dial it back a little. They’re all worried for Bright, but they have a case to solve that takes precedence until they hear anything.

“ _The book!_ “ Edrisa exclaims, throwing plastic over it, obscuring _Domino_ on the cover. “Don’t touch any of the books!”

Dani and JT hold their hands up and take a few steps backward. “What’s going on?” Dani questions.

“We finally finished collecting the contents of the tub. We went to bag the tray, and the author’s the same. It’s been sitting there the whole damn time — the author’s the same.” Edrisa walks toward the front door and says authoritatively, “Out to the van — we all need masks.”

“Why?”

“Potential for unknown contaminant somewhere in the house. Better safe than, well, dead on my table.” She’s the most senior person left on scene, and thankfully, they listen to her, trailing behind. “She had her final Tuesday — let’s not have ours.” She chuckles to herself.

“I thought we got rid of the inappropriate jokes,” JT grouses.

“When it’s laid out right in front of you — “

“With a — “

“How about we get the masks and go back to our separate rooms,” Dani interrupts.

“Gotta wait on HazMat first,” Edrisa corrects. “So we have some time to chit-chat. Some girl talk.”

“I’m out.” JT walks faster to get in front of them, fighting a second battle with the sand while Dani calls after him. The grains come over the top of his shoes, rub between his socks and his soles. He should’ve taken them off like Bright had told him. A common procedure for the beach, but it slipped his mind again.

He gets his mask and disappears to the SUV, away from the others. Dumping his shoes and taking care to get all of the sand out before he puts them back on, he realizes that he’s going to need to take another trip across the beach to go back into the house when they get the all clear.

Damn beach house. He’s dealt with enough sand in his life — he doesn’t want to be near it again for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Head back to the [Bookshelf](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26497927/chapters/64588570#workskin) to pick another book. :)


End file.
